Fifteen separate courses (counting bread service and the mignardises we delivered at the end in to-go boxes). Nine guests. Four hours. Intense, but a blast.

One guest couldn't make it, but we plated an extra of almost every course, for photos and for us to eat, so it came out to an even ten items per course. We started around 7:00pm and finished with mignardises, dessert wines, and group photos just shy of 11:00pm, so it was not at all a quick meal. But I know that everyone had a lot of fun, it was a great crowd (they went through seven bottles of wine), and Jeanette and I had a lot of fun doing it (which one realizes more as one looks back at it).

The adrenaline was intense, and I am quite sore from being on my feet for about three days straight. But despite mishaps (one course was completely different from the menu description because I didn't have time to finish a vichysoisse, so they got shoestring fries and an onion sauce I pulled from another course instead), or perhaps because of them, I learned a lot, and it will be even better next time. For now, I'm proud of what we did in a normal apartment kitchen, with one average-sized refrigerator, no dedicated plating space, just one cook and server/helper, and some patience from the guests.

I got the pork belly, lamb loin, and rabbits from Avedano's Holly Park Market, the sweetbreads from Golden Gate Meat Company, the oysters from Hog Island Oyster Company, and almost all the veg from the Ferry Building Farmer's Market.

1. Acme Rustic Rolls with Honey Butter

The first thing we served was also the only thing I didn't make. We warmed up some delicious Acme rolls in the oven, and then served them with some honey butter I made using some very dark honey. The taste of the butter was phenomenal, with the rich and bitter sweetnesscoming through in each bite. To get the butter into cylinders, I simply took the room temperature butter that had been beaten with the honey, rolled it using plastic wrap like a roulade, then refrigerated until hard. Then I just sliced the ends (and a bit off a side to make it lay flat) and unrolled for serving.

2. Kumamoto Oyster | Granny Smith Apple | Maple | Jalapeno | Cider Vinegar

This is a preparation I've done before. A small cube of crisp granny smith apple, a small slice of jalapeno, and a touch of maple syrup and cider vinegar foam. For the foam, I started with 85g water, 55g cider vinegar, 32g maple syrup, and .4g soy lecithin. You don't want it too airy or else it no longer mimics sea foam, and you have to use plenty of water to dilute the flavors so as not to overpower the oysters. I may have added additional water after these amounts, I can't recall. You just have to taste it and kinda intuit what level of flavor will complement the oysters.

If properly balanced, this is a really great pairing with oysters. Also, Kumamoto oysters are absolutely tiny, so I cut the jalapeno and apple smaller than I would have done with larger oysters.

3. Breakfast Radish Salad | Red Grapes | Fromage Blanc | Chicory | Cucumber | Champagne Vinaigrette

Really fresh and beautiful breakfast radishes, crisp and sliced thinly on a mandoline, with mandolined crisp, spherical red grapes, a quenelle of fromage blanc from Cowgirl Creamery (or as close to a decent quenelle as I could muster under the time pressure), and parisiennes of cucumber.

It's just something nice and refreshing to start the meal. Great salad, I think.

4. Butter-Poached Lobster | Glazed Baby Carrots | Curried Carrot Puree | Roasted Peanut Powder | Coconut Milk Foam

Each person got half a lobster tail, poached in butter sous vide for 15 minutes @ 59.5C (139F), a dollop of carrot puree into which I had incorporated a homemade sweet curry powder, some glazed baby carrots (the colors were different on every plate--purple are most striking, but they aren't on the plate I photographed), a roasted peanut butter powdered using tapioca maltodextrin, and a "coconut milk" foam.

I played around with various platings for the coconut milk foam. I tried to simply whip coconut milk using methylcellulose, then versawhip, then soy lecithin, but couldn't make anything work due to the unemulsified fat present in the coconut milk. Then I tried making small spheres of encapsulated coconut milk. They were fine, but the skin comes out too thick on gellan-based spheres. So I finally settled on using cow's milk, with coconut extract. It worked quite well.

5. Pan-fried Sunchokes | Baby Leeks, Charred and Confit | Spring Onion Confit | Black Bread Croutons | Buttermilk-Sunchoke Puree

I started out wanting to present a veg course with all the gorgeous spring allium that's available right now. I've done charred scallion before. In this case, I used baby leeks. I peeled off all the outer layers and used only the tiny, tender shoots inside. That counteracts the fibrousness of (even baby) leeks. I also used some small spring onion bulbs and cooked them sous vide in butter, 35 minutes at 85C (185F). I took some other baby leeks and blanched and shocked them, then just re-warmed them before plating.

I decided to pair the spring allium with black bread croutons, sunchokes, and buttermilk. So I painstakingly peeled a bunch of sunchokes. Once peeled, I cut them into small cubes, reserving the scraps (not the peels). With the scraps, I made a puree of sunchokes and buttermilk, which was just amazingly delicious. In retrospect, I should have just served this sunchoke-buttermilk puree as a soup with the other stuff as garnish. It was that good. I cooked the cubes sous vide for 40 minutes at 85C (185F). And finally, I made black bread croutons.

The whole thing was pretty tasty, but wasn't necessarily presented in the proper proportions. Like I said, buttermilk-sunchoke soup with the other things as a garnish would have been a bit better, but this was still good. It looked better in person than it does in the picture.

6. Gumbo Consomme | Andouille Oil

Everyone loved this. It was a really flavorful gumbo, made with homemade shrimp and chicken stocks, andouille sausage, the trinity, and shrimp. Then it was clarified using gelatin clarification (Chad gave me the idea). That was reduced just a bit, until it was super intense, then served in a shot glass with a few drops of andouille oil (the fat rendered out of andouille sausage while browning for the gumbo. Absolutely delicious.

6. Rabbit Loin and Rabbit Tots | Kumquat Puree | Kumquat Jam | Kumquat Zest Leather | Arugula | Rabbit Sauce

I accidentally left this off the menus we printed for our guests. So it was a pleasant surprise when we brought it out. I thought this course got a little screwed up--the loins were actually too tender to slice cleanly. I was initially planning on doing a balsamic film with this, but the sugar content kept it from drying adequately, so that was out. And the kumquat puree I'd made ended up setting into a somewhat solid mass in the squeeze bottle due to the pectin content. So I had to empty the squeeze bottle into a mixing bowl, whisk vigorously for a few seconds, then dump it sloppily back into the squeeze bottle. This was all in the middle of plating this course, after the sauce and meat had been plated! Nevertheless, it was delicious. Because of the problems, it didn't end up looking as good as I'd hoped, but it still looked passable. I didn't plate an extra one of these for some reason, so I don't have any pictures.

I cooked rabbit loins sous vide at 59.5C (139.1F), then seared them for service. The legs and thighs were cured overnight, then cooked confit in bacon fat for 10 hours @ 85C (185F). Once it's all done, I dump the entire bag out into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and mix it all together until smooth. Then I piped it into oiled, cylindrical cannoli molds and chilled it. The gelatin from the bones and connective tissues binds them together. Once they're mixed, that's rillettes. For service, I extruded the cylinders of rabbit rilletes, and cut them into tater tot-sized pieces. Then I pan-fried them, rolling them around occasionally until crispy.

The rabbit sauce was a reduction of a rabbit stock I made with the rabbit carcasses, with a bit of red wine added during reduction.

The kumquat puree was a puree of raw, whole kumquat. Jeanette slaved over the kumquat, removing their seeds. The kumquat jam was whole, diced kumquat, blanched then cooked down a bit with simple syrup, then chilled. In both cases, the naturally occuring pectin in the kumquats thickened the bases. Once the puree was strained, I was left with a bunch of small pieces of kumquat zest. I smoothed these scraps out on a silpat and dehydrated them until they were like fruit leather (a.k.a. fruit roll-ups).

This course tasted great, and a lot of people loved it, but the plating didn't turn out that well. I also somehow didn't take a picture.

7. Deep-Fried Brussels Sprouts Two Ways

I am in love with brussels sprouts. I roast them at least once a week. But for people who aren't so into brussels sprouts, the best way to convince them is to deep fry. Deep-frying brussels gets them browned (which is essential to brussels sprouts) and also crispy, which helps. Deep fry brussels sprouts at 350-375F, but I recommend halving them first and using a splatter screen. Normally, I don't bother with a splatter screen, but the various folds of brussels somehow make for crazy grease popping.

Here I served them two ways. In each case, they were served all on a wooden platter, two sprout halves sandwiched with the garnishes, with a pin through it all.

The first brussels sprouts were with pine nut butter (like peanut butter, but with toasted pine nuts--just toast pine nuts, then puree them with only as much cream as you need to get them pureed) and a squeeze of lemon. Lemon and brussels is awesome.

For the second brussels sprouts presentation, I brewed some strong Blue Bottle coffee, and added honey (more than you'd use in your coffee). Then I set it with 1% gellan, chilled it, then pureed it until smooth, pressing it through a fine mesh sieve and then into a squeeze bottle. I also crisped up some smoky bacon and chopped it into bacon bits. Squeeze some coffee-honey fluid gel onto half a fried brussels sprout, then add another half-sprout on top, then pin them together. Delicious stuff.

8. Sweetbread McNuggets

This one blew everyone away. I previously posted about sweetbread McNuggets, but this time the batter was even better. They were lighter, but firmer. We served them with two sauces. Smoked ginger aioli (Applewood cold-smoked using the smoking gun while whirring in the food processor), and soy barbecue sauce.

The free range veal sweetbreads were blanched, shocked, trimmed, simmered in stock for 20 minutes, then chilled and held. At service, sliced into nugget shapes (if you slice days ahead, they will oxidize since they are pretty fatty) then dredged in rice flour, then in a tempura batter with rice flour, carbonated water, egg, and agave nectar (to make the batter brown more quickly, to resemble McDonald's McNuggets).

I bought some McDonald's McNuggets, unfolded the box, scanned it into my computer, modified it, then printed it. Here are the templates I used. Feel free to modify them and use them for your own purposes. Just print one of these on each side of a piece of card stock. McNuggets container outside (Illustrator or the JPEG). McNuggets container inside (Illustrator or the JPEG). Hot glue gun works best for fixing them together. Other kinds of glue do not work well at all (though I couldn't find any papercraft glue to try).

18-Hour Pork Belly | Blood Orange and Lemongrass Terrine | Blood Orange Segments | Edamame | Puffed Rice | Pickled Daikon | King Trumpet Mushroom

This was a great course. I was amazed that, at this point in the meal, pretty much everyone finished all their pork belly. This was not a small course--it really should have been smaller considering the rest of the menu. The one pictured was just the leftovers. The ones we served were nice, rectangular planks of pork belly, with somewhat more artfully plated accompaniments.

Berkshire pork belly, 18 hours @ 71.1C (160F), then pressed while chilling. At service, crisped while weighting it down. Sliced into planks and plated.

The terrine was blood orange juice set with .5% gellan (I'd use even less next time). Then, before that layer had fully set, poured over lemongrass-ginger-peppercorn stock also set with .5% gelatin and hydrated. Let it set, then slice it for service. The edamame was just blanced and shocked, and tossed with blood orange supremes. The puffed rice was just rice, overcooked then mostly dehydrated (not completely, and not at too high a temp or else it won't puff). King trumpets were just sauteed.

Daikon was cut into rounds, then cut uniformly using a ring cutter. Then vacuum-sealed with sherry vinegar, sugar, and salt, then left to pickle for a week.

Lamb Loin | Shoestring Fries | Onion Sauce | Beet Confetti | Red Russian Kale | Balsamic Vinaigrette

This was the course where everything seemed to go wrong. This was originally on the menu as lamb loin with vichysoisse and beet confetti. But I ran out of time and didn't have the vichysoisse made before the dinner started. So I needed something I could prep while cooking all the other dishes. Vichysoisse = potato and onion. So I made shoestring fries, and borrowed an onion sauce that I forgot to use on the sunchoke and spring allium course. I had Jeanette dress some red Russian kale with a balsamic vinaigrette way in advance of serving this to give them time to break down (because most kinds of kale are not good raw). It would've all turned out well, but then I totally screwed up the lamb. I cooked it sous vide at a slightly higher temperature than I otherwise would have because not all the guests were okay with rare meat. So it was already a bit more cooked than would be ideal, for my tastes. And then I guess I seared it a bit long, making it a bit more cooked. It was still edible, but it was a lot more cooked than I intended. It ended up medium well. Some of the guests still claimed to love it, but I wasn't proud of it. This was the one major screw-up of the night. It was also, I think, the only course which no one claimed as one of their favorites. Oops.

Kiwi Popsicle Lollipop

This was a simple little palate cleanser, that's also finger food. It's just a kiwi popsicle, made from ripe kiwi. Certain fruits, when ripe, have a high enough sugar content that they don't freeze too solidly. Pineapples are great for this, but they have such long fibers that they aren't as pleasurable to eat. But kiwi isn't fibrous, but when ripe is sugary enough to still have a soft texture. It ends up similar to a regular popsicle. So I sliced them thinly across the fruit to expose the beautiful seeds, pressed two slices together with a section of popsicle stick (bamboo skewer cut to size), then vacuum-sealed with a bit of simple syrup and froze. It works great. When you take them out of the freezer, run each one under the faucet for three seconds to rinse off the weird ice crystals on the outside, then drain on a paper towel for just a second. If I'd had more time by the point I made these, I would've used a round cutter to make the sizes more uniform and the shape more perfectly round.

Mini Maple Creme Brulee

As posted here, but cooked in cute, tiny crocks that Jeanette especially loves. Also served with tiny, little spoons. As I've said, creme brulee gets super boring after about four bites. So, three-bite cremes brulees are the perfect size. The crisp sugar crust has to be uniform but very thin. I was originally going to serve these with a sprinkle of Maldon salt, but I tried it with the salt and it was just better without it. Everyone loved this. I make a damn good creme brulee.

Cheesecake | Coffee-Cocoa Soil | Meyer Lemon Fluid Gel | Thyme

Each of the components was exactly as I described here except that I used sugar instead of Splenda. I also added some fresh thyme leaves this time.

This is just a great dessert. It's a very well-balanced pairing, in my opinion, and I wish we had more leftovers. Everyone loved it.

Mignardises: Five-Spice Candied Peanuts | Cara Cara Orange Pâte de Fruit | Chocolate-Pistachio Nougatine

We sent everyone home with a little box of treats. The box contained: Chocolate-pistachio nougatine, Five-spice candied peanuts, and Cara Cara Pate de Fruit: 315g cara cara orange juice with pulp, 60g sugar, 30g glucose or corn syrup, 2g calcium lactate, and 7.1g LM pectin. Blend together with an immersion blender, then bring to a boil, and then pour into a dish or mold and chill.

So that's all of it. I'll probably post some more detailed things about particular dishes. Got any questions? Hit up the comments.

Posted by Barzelay on 2009/03/17 @ 3:22 | Comments (2) | Desserts, Food Additives, Life, Meat, Menus, Sauces, Condiments, Seafood, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese

Comments